Ten On TUESDAY

1.  I think these posts make me realize just how fast the week goes by.   I feel like I was just writing last week's and it is already almost May.  Really?  And hello last week of April- a third of the year- poof! Gone!

2. Hope you all had a great weekend.  The kids really enjoyed all the family time, and all the sugar.  Makenna Claire was very excited to see that the Easter Bunny made a visit to the Case home..although she did comment that he "made such a mess" dispersing "eggs everywhere!"  Which is even funnier when you know MC certainly knows how to create such a mess and we have to negotiate and beg and plee and really, really fight with encourage her to help clean up such messes. But I guess that wasn't her  point. =)  I still need to sort through all the pics.

3. Do you "Pin?".  I have glanced at the boards a few times and know many people who love the site so  I finally decided to give it a try.  I am on the "invite wait list".  Funny.  It is a board of great inspiration if nothing else.  Take a peek if you haven't already.  If you like to be creative, it is eye candy and some of them will just make you laugh out loud.
http://pinterest.com/

4. Rylan loves his sister (most of the time) and wants to be just like her.
Don't believe me?
Well, just take a peek at this.

http://youtu.be/uPItMjuklPo


5. Our kitchen table may be for meals but it also subs as a craft/art/game/puzzle/play dough/ painting table by day. It's just easier that way since I don't have to worry about carpet spills.  Thank you hard woods.

6.  HelLO Spring flowers...how I love you so!  Thank you for staying strong against those hungry resident bunnies.

They just make me smile.

7. I am running an average  of almost 20 miles a week now.  Seriously...20 miles... I never thought I would be able to say that. Wow..how I love that I can say that and how I love the sport of running even more.  Yes, this is Kelly typing. I am still getting used to that idea myself.

8. On that same note, will all the crazy drivers out there be a little patient and share the road with us runners and cyclists.  Is it really necessary to speed up and show off your motor skills so you can move so much faster around us?  Really?  Please respect everyone on the road.  

Now I feel better.  

9. Scott and I spent a few hours on Saturday doing a brick (cycle and then run immediately after) together and we had so much fun.  Great to be on the bike outdoors and it was great to carry on a conversation while running.  The time just flew.  Thanks babe...here's to many more "date days".  (And thanks mom for playing with the kids for a few hours!  )

10.  I am so very close to reaching my Lifetime weight goal at Weight Watchers.  

So close, I can taste it.  

So close, I am already thinking about what I can do with that $40 a month deduction.  

So close, I can reach out and feel it.  

So close...I know I will reach it this time.  And then some.  

It's been a journey and will continue to be my journey, but I am so very happy at where I have come from and where I am.  Ahhh..

Tomorrow..tomorrow...it will be a tomorrow soon.  Night..

TEn on TUESday

1.  Makenna just told me she loves Justin Bieber.  What??  I don't think I heard that right.  HOw does she even know the name! {sheisgrowingupwaytoofastforthismomma}

2. Last week I was on a roll with making dinners.  Each and every night.
And anybody who knows me, knows that this is not the usual.
Having dinner on the table when the husband arrives home is so not me!
But once in a while, I enjoy it.  For a very short time, that is.
We enjoyed trying new recipes while seeking out some great vegetarian options.  Scott was out of town in the beginning of the week, so I  made a few of the kids favorites- Tuna Noodle Casserole and Turkey Mac. The rest of the week looked like this.
WED. Zuchinni Enchiladas
THUR. Vegetarian Pad Thai
FRI. Spinach Turkey Calzones
SUN. Black Bean Cakes

all new recipes and all so very good!

3. Ahhh...now I need a break from cooking. LOL

4. Rain and 40 degree weather makes for a bad week of spring fun.  I know April is wet...but so cold too?  And so very dark.  It is mid day and dark as 10 pm. Warmer weather and sunshine please come back.

5. Last night while we were sitting down at dinner, Scott got up to grab something from the cabinet.  When something tumbled out of the cabinet, in the most calm and serious voice Makenna saids,
"Jesus Christ. That did not sound good.  Some days are better than others."

Yes, we tried to discreetly laugh, trying not to encourage such words but I think she caught on anyways.

"Did I say something so very funny?" she saids.

6. Later during dinner, she was trying to tell us Woody from Toy Story has a snake in his boot. When I misunderstood her and said Willy..a snake in a boot??, she told me, "no mom..Woody..repeat after me...wooood..............deeee...

7. She makes us laugh and last night she was sure on a roll.  We love her and all that she brings to our family.

8.  Speaking of Makenna- she is signed up for her first race!  She is so very excited and asks us every day if it is "running day yet??".
http://www.runlikeamotherrace.com/

We'll be doing the 1 mile kid race together, mother and daughter and then I'll run the 5k race.
Perfect start to Mother's DAy, I must say, because taking care of me is as much for me as it is for her.
A healthy, fit, happy momma is the best gift I can ever give her, right?

9. Project Life 2011 is up to date and I have done a pretty great job on staying on target.  Yea me!  Here are a couple of my favorites lately.
And you can always click on the link at the right to see the entire photo stream.

10. The movie Tangled has been playing in our house at every chance MC gets. Which also means the play kitchen frying pan has been very active... :0

Disney..can you please think about these things with the next movie? please.

Ten on Tuesday
       even though it's Wednesday...


1. Spring has sprung here in Illinois.  The weather is consistently warmer, the tree's are sporting their new buds, our first bulb flowers are starting to pop, and we have been able to spend lots of time outside playing, reacquainting ourselves to our neighbors, cleaning the yard and yes, seeing all the evidence of what our undesired residential bunnies have done to our landscaping :(.
I do love the change of seasons and there's something so refreshing about Spring.  Hello and welcome..

2. And this is what Spring looks like to us.

3.  This past weekend, Scott and I unexpectedly were handed a bib into Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle 8k Run.  Seriously..We were both so excited to have this opportunity and were thrilled to run through the streets of the city with thousands of people.  (Yes, I am still surprising myself at my excitement).  It ended up being a beautiful summer day!  My goal was to do it in an hour and run proudly without any of my GI issues (check  x 2..had a bit of cramping afterwards :( but not too bad), and Scott ran 7 min miles without a blink.  Ok..jack rabbit..you make it look easy but I am so very proud of you!

4. That saying, there is Less than SIX weeks to Galena!  Woot woot~  We are both so excited!!!

5. A BIG shout out to my mom who is one of our biggest supporters of our athletic lifestyle.  She gets it..understands that it doesn't take away from our family but rather enriches it, and that being active makes us better parents and individuals.  She helped me through a few long workouts last week when Scott was traveling by watching the kids and she is always there to see how she can help (and I think she is one of the busiest people I know).

When I told her I was running the Shamrock Shuffle in less than 24 hours...her response, "awesome, can I come to cheer you on?"  And hours later when we found out Scott can have a bib too and I had to ask her if she can watch the kids while Scott runs too.."Of course!"

And you can guess who is cheering us on in Galena...yep..mom and the kids!

Mom..we love you,  appreciate you and both are so very grateful for all of your support, understanding and help!  You ROCK!!!

6.  And on that same note...Scott told me in passing last week.."I love being a two athlete family."
That comment has remained in my head.
Even though I don't think that is possible...I think I love him even more.

7. My little brother is turning 29 this week.  How is that even possible??
Happy Birthday BRAD!

8.  And mom...does that mean that you are NOW the same age as your son????  (ha ha ha)

9. Scott is now back in town.  Yippeee!  We are all so excited to have him home for awhile.  We did good while he was gone, but life is so much sweeter when we are together.

10. Well since this is already a few hours late, and I am being requested to make a tent for little miss MC, I will say good bye for now.  I hope you are enjoying the blooms of Spring and some fresh air.  back soon...K

Home in 24 hours...thoughts from the desert

Geez, but I miss everybody back home.  Travel for work usually is a night or two, here and there.  But in the Spring and Fall, that's when The Long Trips happen.

Missed the big Asia meeting this year because of timing and things, but while I heard great things about the meeting, some of the ancillaries weren't all that great.  It was in Vietnam this year, but next year it's back in Bangkok and even better, it won't be over the birthday of a certain special someone named Makenna.

Sometimes I also go to the Airforwarder's Association meeting, which this year was in San Diego.  But with stepping down from the chairmanship of something with our national Association, that trip would've been on the company dime and that wasn't happening.

So, the one trip this spring is to the desert.  Chandler, AZ.  It's an awesome property.  We were here in 2007 when Makenna was only six weeks old or thereabouts.  Great memories.

Somebody wiser than me remarked, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone."  Song lyric.  This guy can probably identify for you.  I've missed everybody so much this week.  Kelly takes pictures, I try to talk to the kids where possible, but these trips are really go from the beginning of the day until well into the evening.  Add the two hour time difference to the negative and when I'm waking up to get a run or something and by the time I come back and shower, I've got to be somewhere at 7:30 or 8:00.  Go all day and then by the time the last sessions finish at 5, it's 7 back home and everybody's winding down for bed.

Kelly does a phenomenal job with them when I'm gone.  She steps into the role of both of us and executes it flawlessly like an Olympic gold medal performance.  Oh, and she's kept up her training for our duathlon next month.  Absolutely amazing.  She is a remarkable role model, playmate, driver and nurturer of Makenna and Rylan and while it pains me to be away, I  see the pictures of the fun they're having and know that mom's keeping them busy so they don't miss dad as much.

But in the quiet moments out here, dad misses all them to pieces.

Trip observations in no particular order.

1. While the work has been educational, it was awesome to see family and friends.  On Tuesday I had lunch with Aunts Alice and Dorothy (my dad's sisters).  Thai food.  Yum.  Coming off a night before of really good food but too much Croatian wine, the curry did good to burn my senses and equilibrium back to normal.  Tonight I took a road trip out to Fountain Hills to see Ray and Mickey Zike.  I had "Mr. Zike" for all of one semester in high school in 1987, but the friendship has remained all this time.  Mexican food, politics, Big Ten football and other topics filled the evening.  We laughed like crazy at stuff and remembered an old teacher, Paul Bucek, who passed away unexpectedly several weeks ago.
2. I rented a road bike for a few days and got out for my first outdoor ride of 2011 with the Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club.  Sixty three miles, about an 18 mph average.  Did I mention it was the first saddle time of 2011 and I held my own?  Snoopy happy dance at that performance.
3. If you get a chance to get out to the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, go.  Don't stay at the casino hotel, go full monty for the resort.  Golf, spa, pool, star-filled sky and utterly relaxing. 
4. When I travel, I love to find and eat at places I don't have at home.  Did passably well with that on this trip when I strayed off property, including a neighborhood sushi restaurant and a coffee shop that is as authentic feeling as you'll find. 
5. Read things in your room.  If I'd have hung a card on my doorknob to tell them to pass on the housekeeping, I could've garnered an extra 500 Starpoints per night.  Dumb, dumb, dumb and illiterate.
6. Sometimes you can be too clever by half trying to cheat airport authorities out of concession fees.
7. My industry has some really bright people working in it, and I'm privileged to call many friends and even more colleagues who give their time and knowledge freely and willingly to those around them (all of whom are their competitors) and work tirelessly on their behalf.
8. This conference is in Hollywood, FL, next year.  I've been, but for some reason, I just never warm up to Miami / Ft. Lauderdale / Palm Beach.  Florida is Sanibel Island, Gulf of Mexico side.  Anything else is just reclaimed swampland gone condo or theme park.
9. I picked up a new internet device when mine was stolen in Grand Rapids.  Now on the Verizon LTE network (with a Samsung wireless router).  On one speed test, I got 21 mbps down and 8 back up.  That's faster than most cable connections.  Turns out the $50/mo I'll pay for service paid for itself already because the internet connection here would've been $13/day.  
10. iPad + bluetooth keyboard + wireless modem = got to leave the laptop in the room daily and might not've even needed it for the trip.  Really tempted to leave it home for (see below).
11. I get home late tomorrow night, will spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the kids and then leave Sunday night for Atlanta, coming back late Tuesday night.  That's another chance to do some business, but more importantly, see friends I haven't seen in YEARS from an old group our company used to belong to.  I've already planned the Tuesday evening dining location.  We're going for burgers.  

In summary, friends, laugher, late nights, early mornings, exercise, a bit of sunshine, fluorescent tan, to do's at work when I get back there mid next week, kisses and hugs to very special people when I get home.

Don't worry, Makenna, it's Thursday.  Daddy's coming home and the first thing I'll do when I get in the door is come up and give you a kiss.  Can I pick our stories for Friday night?

 Ten on Tuesday

a few Makenna-isms to start..

1. MC "Momma..is it sometimes hard to be a mommy?"
    me... "yes, at times it is makenna.  Why?"
    MC " It's sometimes hard to be a big sister too."

(and it must of been on her mind that day since she asked Daddy the same thing that night)

2. MC adores having Daddy tuck her into bed each night.   One of the songs M request from Daddy is "it had to be you.."
Scott was telling me that when he sings it to her, she sings along.
Daddy..."it had to be you.."
M.........."it had to be me.."

seriously cute...

3. This morning Makenna woke up, got herself dressed in her usual skirt, tights and short sleeved shirt, brushed her hair and put in a headband and ran into my room with much gusto saying.. "i'm ready to go to school now!"  Do you think she was excited to return to school after spring break???

4. She then proceeded to go into Rylan's room and entertain him while I woke up.  (love her!) They both really enjoy each other these days which is really cool to see.  Sure they have their moments, but their playful time together definitely outnumbers those typical sibling clashes.

5. Scott left for hot, sunny Arizona last Friday for a business conference and will return late Thursday night.  The kids are doing great this time around, and although they both ask about Daddy daily, they have been really good.  Thanks kiddos!!  oxxo ( but hurry on home Daddy...)

6.  We had a fun spring break.  We did a lot of things locally and spent lots of time playing together at home. Here are just a few of our adventures.

7.  I think technology has changed the way we do things. The way we get information.  The way we process information.  I started this blog long before blogging became trendy..just as a way for people we love to watch our family grow, see a bit of our life in words and pictures.  And I believe that still is the intention and purpose of our family blog.

However, many other people have chosen to keep a blog with a slightly different purpose but still sharing a bit of themselves.  There are now great blogs with in depth information educating their readers on anything from cooking to photography to organization, and I think this is pretty cool.  In fact, I think blog reading has replaced a lot of my magazine reading and find myself turning to the internet and blogs for recipes or  information on a specific topic.

And as with everything, I find that I weave in and out of blogs for one reason or another so I am always looking for new inspiration.  I always appreciate when I am led to a fabulous blog by someone else so here are a few that I have been enjoying lately.

http://www.kellehampton.com/2011/04/weekend-uh-bentures.html (love her outlook on life)

http://erincobb.com/ThePigBear/?p=5054 ( love her photography..so natural, so real)

http://thecreativemama.com/

http://www.ourbestbites.com/ (yum!  I have tried a few of their recipes and oh so good!)

and a few that I have just been turned on to...

http://thishomemadelife.com/

http://deliciouslyorganic.net/

8.  Even though this photo is blurry..i love it!  So them right now...

hello my heart!

9. and so is this!

10.  And...Somebody is learning the important life lessons from his sister.

And now I am so exhausted, I must go to bed.  Nighty night..
xoxo, kelly